Germany changed course on Sunday over which type of smartphone technology it wanted to use to trace coronavirus infections, backing an approach supported by Apple and Google along with a growing number of other European countries.
FILE PHOTO: A sign with distancing rules and the notice that masks must be worn, is seen at the entrance of a shop, as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in Erfurt, Germany, April 24, 2020. REUTERS/Karina Hessland
In Europe, most countries have chosen short-range Bluetooth “handshakes” between mobile devices as the best way of registering a potential contact, even though it does not provide location data. This consent would be given in the app, however, and not be part of the system’s central architecture.Germany as recently as Friday backed a centralised standard called Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing , which would have needed Apple in particular to change the settings on its iPhones.
“This app should be voluntary, meet data protection standards and guarantee a high level of IT security,” they said. “The main epidemiological goal is to recognise and break chains of infection as soon as possible.” An open letter from hundreds of scientists published last Monday warned that, if the contact tracing data was centralised, it would allow “unprecedented surveillance of society at large”.
Germany’s reversal brings it into line with a proposal by Apple and Google, who said this month they would develop new tools to support decentralised contact tracing. In Europe, France and Britain still back centralisation.
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